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Durin watched and listened to you and Venti's performances intensely-- as if he'd never be able to listen to your voice or Venti's lyre again. Venti's music was heavenly; as expected of Barbatos. And your singing was like a siren's; seducing but still so soft and pleasant that people would only notice time had passed when the song was over. He noted all the songs you ever sung were about some kind of love-- whether that was romantic, platonic, both, or something else entirely. Not only that, you put passion into your singing, adding a sprinkle of genuineness; which made a few audience members tear up from time to time. He couldn't help but feel along with the music and your voice, too. Then, he'd jog back and join Albedo at the alchemy bench, lightly hearing you and Venti celebrate another successful performance behind him.
He'd see you in Mondstadt City from time to time, but you frequented Dornman Port a lot more than the capital. So when he saw you in the Knights of Favonius Library late at night, he was surprised. He had been working on an experiment with Albedo, but inspiration hit and he rushed off to the library to have a quiet place to write.
He barged in (albeit gently) and found you and Lisa talking. He heard you asking for a fairytale book the librarian would recommend, but he shook the questions he had out of his head and practically rolled down the stairs to a table and started scribbling words across his journal as fast and coherently as possible so he wouldn't forget all the words passing about his mind.
Only once he finished his writing and was about to read over whatever he brain-dumped did he notice you sitting next to him, flipping through a fairy tale novel he'd read before, humming a random song Barbara sung from time to time.
He had read that novel a few times, never fully able to grasp the female and male lead's (limited) feelings, actions, and attitudes towards each other. Lisa explained to him that what the leads were feeling was love; and to an extent he understood. He loved his brother Albedo, his mother, his sister Klee, and everyone who had ever done anything nice to him. What he didn't fully understand, however, was the "romantic" part of their relationship. A true love's kiss? What made true love... well, true love?
...Maybe you'd have the answer. You did sing all those songs on love, after all. "Hey," he started shyly, "do you understand what the main characters are feeling towards each other?"
"...Love?" You looked at him a bit confused.
He hoped his words made sense; this was actually his first time having a proper conversation with you, after all. "Yes, but... um, what makes their love romantic?"
"Uh, they kiss," Durin continued to look at you expectantly. You forced yourself to persist in conversation even though you'd rather be reading in silence, "but, unlike what the story suggests, their love isn't what love is. --What I mean is, not all aspects of love are in here. They don't fight, banter, or have any talks about random things with each other. It's based around love at first sight, but in reality, that kind of thing is rare. People don't just fall in love immediately like these two did."
Durin felt the stress in his chest whisk away. So the reason he didn't understand how the two main characters felt was because their love wasn't true love(?). But that begged the question; what was true, true love? "Then, what is true love?"
"I'm pretty sure that's something you have to find out on your own." You nonchalantly replied, refocusing on the book in front of you.
"What do I need to do?" The dragon leaned towards you. He was probably doing it subconsciously, but you couldn't help but feel bothered by it.
This guy is way too curious for his own good, you thought, slightly annoyed. "Uh, find someone you like... like, romantically."
"And how should I do that?" He leaned even more, basically out of his seat now.
Usually you'd have better self control and manners, but perhaps because it was the end of the day, you simply snapped. You pushed him away from you harshly, "I don't know! I'm not some kind of love guru, okay?!" Tears threatened to spill out your eyes. You silently prayed they wouldn't.
Durin was surprised, but not shocked or disappointed by any means. He sat back in his chair, unable to remember what Albedo told him to do next if he ever got into a situation like this. "I'm sorry," was all he could stutter out in the end. You had turned your head away from him. Deciding space was needed, Durin quickly grabbed his stuff, walked up the stairs, and started his short journey back to Albedo's office. He ran into Lisa who wore a worried expression on her face (she must've heard your outburst) but didn't say anything and let him go silently.
The walk was only a minute but it felt like an hour. Apparently his gloominess was easily seen, because Albedo immediately asked as he came in, "Did something happen?"
At the question, Durin felt tears prick his eyesight. "Yeah," he sniffled and sat on the sofa residing in the office, "I think I accidentally made someone mad."
Albedo set down the vial he was oberserving and sat next to his brother. "So, let's talk about it. To start off, who got mad?"
Durin explained the unsavory situation.
Albedo hummed, "I presume you simply asked too many questions she didn't know the answers to. Although she may sing songs of love, that doesn't mean she is a master that knows everything about the topic."
After talking to the alchemist, Durin calmed down and decided, "I'll go say sorry, then--"
Albedo stopped him, "Durin, it is best to let the emotions she's feeling settle before you talk to her."
The dragon reluctantly nodded. Albedo instructed him to go to bed, so he returned home and tried to sleep.
He couldn't sleep.
Your anger didn't last long. After Durin left, all your fury turned into tears and guilt. Lisa came down from the stairs and reminded you this was a library. "You act like I don't know that already," you sobbed, words slurred and barely comprehensible.
Lisa sat down where Durin used to be and smiled gently, "I was just trying to loosen up the tense atmosphere you've created around you, sweet pea." For some reason, Lisa's words made you cry even harder. "There there, I'll get some tea for you, and we can talk if you want to." The librarian came back with chamomile tea and poured a cup for you. The tea had calming properties, and helped you regain a normal rhythm of breathing. Once you stopped weeping, Lisa started, "So, what exactly happened to make you so angry?"
You sighed, "He was just asking a lot of questions and I got annoyed. It's both our faults, to be honest. I should've stopped him earlier so I didn't yell, and he needs to work on knowing when to stop bombarding someone with questions. At least, that's what I think."
Lisa took a sip of her own tea and leaned back in her chair. "You already now what went wrong, then. As expected. Then you know what to do next. And that is..." she waited for you to finish her sentence.
She didn't have to wait long. You looked up at her, "To apologize. I'll wait here in the library tomorrow afternoon for him. He has tutoring with you around that time, right?"
Lisa nodded. You rode a merchant's wagon home and went to sleep.
It was not good sleep.
٠࣪⭑
The next day, after an early lunch, you walked your way to Monstadt City. Venti invited you to sing along to his lyre, but you declined. There was no way you could focus on a performance when you were in a fight with someone you liked-- well, "like" may not be the right word. More like you'd rather not be in a fight when you know the other person didn't mean anything bad. Yes, that was it.
You made it to the Favonius Library and took a deep breath. In; out. Alright. Let's get this over with. You opened the door and saw Durin talking to Lisa at her desk. You started walking towards him.
Durin felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw... you! He planned to visit Dornman Port in the evening which was the reason why he was talking to Lisa; to get out of today's tutoring session. "O-oh, hello." He wasn't ready to talk to you yet! "I, um, I..."
You beat him to it. "I'm sorry," you said with an expression he couldn't calculate, "for taking my anger out on you. I should have asked you to stop asking questions instead of letting you cross boundaries you didn't even know about." He could hear your voice crack. "So," Tears welled up in your eyes, "I'm really sorry." And they fell.
"I-" Durin started, but you interrupted him.
"I don't mind you asking questions. But even though I sing about love, I'm just a kid in the end. So of course I don't know everything. Just don't expect me to have the correct answer to all the questions you ask. That's the thing with language, right? There's never a specific correct answer, like math." You were rambling now. You stopped yourself. "...That's it. Say whatever you'd like now... Please." You were surprised your voice stayed coherent and didn't turn into a warble of sobs. Go me, you cheered yourself on. Now it was just up to Durin to decide how to finish this.
Durin was speechless. Literally. His mouth was wide open, but not a word came out. He watched you take deep breaths and recover from your weeping. What amazing control! He thought to himself. Only when he saw Albedo come in the library in the corner of his eye did he start talking, "I-I'malsoreallysorryaboutwhathappened, Ididn'tmeantocrossaboundaryoranything. Um, yeah. Thank you."
A wave of relief washed over you. You thanked Barbatos for such a peaceful and quick resolution to this fight of sorts. "What book are you checking out?" You asked in your most casual voice.
"O-oh, this is The Boar Princess. My mom wrote it." Durin showcased the book to you happily.
"I've read that. I love the ending a lot."
"R-really? A lot of people don't like how disturbing the ending can seem..."
"So? I like it."
"Then... then let's talk about it!"